Council spends more than £33m on agency staff

The council said the spending was justified due to shortages of key professionals

A council which declared a financial emergency has spent more than £33m on agency staff and consultants in less than three years.

Somerset Council has relied on central government support to balance its books since it declared a financial emergency in November 2023.

The council said its £33m spend on agency staff since April 2023 was largely due to national shortages of key professionals, such as social workers and planning officers.

A spokesperson for the authority added it had made "significant savings" in recent years as it works to improve its financial situation, including saving £33m on its wage bill by cutting 555 full-time jobs and making 292 redundancies.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service reports the council's spending on agency staff and consultants through its supplier Matrix was £12.5m in 2023-24, £14.2m in 2024-25 and £6.8m so far in 2025-26.

These figures exclude any non-Matrix agency or consultancy costs, and does not include a £20m payment to consultants for phase two of the council's financial transformation programme.

It said this consultation spending is designed to close the council's projected budget gap, which without such an intervention would hit £101m in 2026-27 and increases the chance of the council going bankrupt.

Councillor Dawn Denton, shadow portfolio holder for finance, procurement and performance, accused the council of "cutting services for our residents" and increasing council tax while "writing blank cheques to consultants".

A Somerset Council spokesperson said "it was always planned to use agency staff as short-term cover in specific roles rather than recruiting permanent staff," while the council restructured.

"Now the restructure is complete, we are actively seeking to reduce use of agency staff and convert agency staff to permanent where possible," they added.

"However, there are national shortages of staff in certain specialist roles in areas like legal, planning and social work, so like many councils, we'll continue to use agency staff where needed to ensure we can continue to deliver essential public services."